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Providing educational, emotional, and social support for children and families in every Tennessee county |
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“Forget the partnerships,” she says now. “We didn’t even have any friendships. We weren’t even welcome at the table.” Instead, the advisory councils told the state they couldn’t get a Head Start representative to come; or they appointed a former Head Start parent; or, a Head Start cook. One even asked if they could just sign Castleman’s name to the advisory council’s sign-in sheet. But, from inauspicious beginnings, good things arose. In the end, six of the LEAs agreed to collaborate with Northwest. Of those, five are still operating. “Sharing the costs of serving children has meant that more children have been served,” points out Naomi Bridges, Northwest’s family and community partnership manager. Head Start and schools systems shared the cost for personnel for the Start classrooms. For example, she notes that the school systems hired state certified Pre-K teachers, while Head Start employed center coordinators, case managers, assistant teachers and bus drivers, cooks and custodians for classrooms located in program facilities. Beyond that, all the children in the program — and their families — got a lot more benefits:
· Early child development education that involved classroom and outdoor learning activities and field trips · CACFP approved meals and nutrition education for children and parents · Child health and mental health services · Child transportation · Parent involvement · Family development (social services) · Special education services for children with disabilities · Medical screenings, including follow-up dental and medical care for children who failed · Parent training and continuing education · Transition activities for children and parents that involved kindergarten personnel · Family Literacy events · Decision making and leadership building opportunities for parents through program governance and membership on advisory committees i.e. Health Advisory Committee
The collaboration has been so obviously successful that, this year, the other two LEAs that didn’t apply last year now actively want to collaborate. In addition, two of the original five LEAs want to expand their collaborations to include additional classrooms in the fall. Bridges believes that it is “no longer feasible for Head Start and school systems to operate as separate identities in pre-school education. We’ve got to join hands,” she says, “and share knowledge and resources to ensure that these children not only succeed but excel in and beyond public school. That’s our philosophy, and that’s our mission.” Exactly where the children will come from is not entirely clear, Castleman and Bridges worry. “Most of the pre-K classrooms were not fully enrolled last year,” Castleman points out, “because they couldn’t find enough eligible children.” The new funding targets “at risk children” which would include many above the Head Stare income guidelines. Head Start enrollment for four-year-olds declined last year, and with the 227 new classrooms slated to open in 2006-07, Head Start and other preschool programs will be serving fewer four-year-olds. Overall, Castleman says she and her staff have learned a lot. She now knows that the best collaborations are those in which the state pre-K moves into an existing Head Start classroom. Inevitably, of course (as happened last year), some Head Start classrooms had to move into LEA’s facilities. Whatever arrangements are made, however, Castleman says the support of the school principal is crucial. “Even if the superintendent and the curriculum instructor want the collaboration, it won’t work if the principal doesn’t want it too,” she says. “Also,” Castleman adds, “you really need at least one Head Start employee in each classroom.” That can be difficult, however, become some LEAs insist – even demand – that the LEA hire both the teacher and the assistant teacher. Last year, that meant painful and quick – in fact, overnight – demotions and lay-offs of teachers who were not pre-K certified. This year, she hopes, some of the hectic planning that went into the seven weeks between the grant notification and opening day – ordering equipment, developing playgrounds, preparing facilities, choosing a curriculum (“Six different curricula, of course,” Castleman remembers with a groan) – may not have to be so hectic this year. She also hopes for a smoother contracting process, with the need for a contract more evident. Last year, she says, some LEAs felt that a contract was unnecessary, but the value of having written details related to responsibilities cannot be over-emphasized. Despite the initial difficulties, the pre-Ks did open and – except for the one program that collapsed – continued serving nearly 160 children throughout the year. This year, even more children will be served as the number of collaborations increase. Castleman is hopeful that the process will run a lot smoother this year. “Last year, we tried to start six new collaborations in just a few weeks, but this year, we should have the time we need to devote to each one.” |
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Whatever it was, she knew it would have to happen quickly. “When the request for proposals was announced,” she pointed out, the LEAs (for “Local Education Agencies” in educational administration parlance) only had about four weeks to develop a plan of action for opening state-funded pre-schools for their four-year-olds. To be honest, Castleman was a little nervous. “We knew our program had already maxed out the four-year-old population that was eligible for Head Start,” she pointed out. She remembers thinking that even though her agency was already serving many three-year-olds (and could serve more), “we knew it was in our best interest to collaborate.” What was not nearly so clear was what the LEAs were actually going to do. She knew the state was requiring each LEA to establish a pre-K advisory council, and that each council had to include her – or somebody appointed by her. But the weeks went by. Hmmmm …. No word from anybody. In counties that spanned the state from Kentucky in the north to Mississippi in the south and touched on Missouri and Arkansas to the west, nobody was contacting Head Start. Were none of her LEAs applying? she remembers wondering; or, did they just forget about including Head Start? Hmmmm … Yet, all but two LEAs applied for at least one classroom, and everybody who applied got what they asked for. What should have been a marriage of mutual interests was turning out more like a blind date where the guy doesn’t even show up. |
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Tennessee Head Start White Papers |
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An Interview with Northwest HS’s Pamela Castleman Making Collaborations Work |
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With more than 1,400 Head Start and Early Head Start children in 77 classrooms spread across northwest Tennessee, Head Start director Pam Castleman looked warily last year at the 26 separate school districts operating in her 13 counties: what were they going to do about the lottery-funded pre-Kindergarten initiative? |
